Where is God in our day-to-day? Take a journey with three ordinary people who have an extraordinary impact on the lives of those around them. The Essence of the Spirit is an inspiring documentary that explores the simplicity of of the mystical path that unfolds before us when we follow the promptings of the Spirit, and find God in the everyday.
Nina Juliano is an independent filmmaker who obtained her MFA in Film Production from Florida State University Film school. After finishing her MFA, she moved to New York to intern and assist in International Distribution at Focus Features.
Nina currently works as a filmmaker and videographer, directing promotional videos, shorts, web videos, content for actor's reels, and more. Several of her shorts have screened at festivals including "Oswald's Last Wish," a dark comedy starring Neil Casey (SNL) and "Ruyah Zahir," a controversial 8mm social drama starring Carrie Anne James.
Nina was a fellow for the 2009 NALIP Screenwriter's Lab as well as their 2011 Producer's Academy. Several of her screenplays have gained contest recognition, including "Sicilia" (Creative World Awards, First Cut Film Series, NALIP), "Plastic Girl" (Creative World Awards) and "Love in Urban Decay" (First Cut Film Series).
Her latest film endeavor is her feature documentary, "The Essence of the Spirit,"a two year labor of love which has been described as a "spiritual 'Chicken Soup for the Soul."
Bryan Yokomi is an Emmy award-winning editor. He graduated with a BS in Communications: Media Production with a Film Studies minor from Florida State University. He continued his higher education at the prestigious Florida State University Film School and graduated with an MFA in Film Production.
Bryan currently works as an editor and director in Los Angeles. The television show he edits, Cars.TV, won the 2012 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Program. Cars.TV is a show that explores the wide world of the automobile and appeals to every kind of car enthusiast. The program showcases everything from custom garage built cars to the latest auto show reveals; from the rare priceless museum collections to the new cutting edge car technologies.
Bryan also directed The Colorado Experience: Freedom & Poverty. This historical documentary tells the human story of three Japanese American women who fled the Internment camps during WWII. This gripping documentary chronicles their personal struggles to make a life for themselves and their families, far from the barbwire fences of the camps. The film culminates with the ultimate question: "If you had to choose again, would you go to Colorado or would you go to the camps?" The film has been screened at several film festivals and is currently seeking distribution.
Daniel Hamuy, founder of Keysound Productions, is a composer, music producer and orchestrator for film, TV and records. He worked in many award winning films for major studios (Disney, Sony,etc)
As a composer, he wrote the original score for the films "America" (Edward J. Olmos), Tales from a Ghetto Klown (John Leguizamo), Xtraction, We Women Warriors (documentary), Alumni Bike Race and Madrid's metro museum exhibition among others. He also, collaborated additional music for feature films such as FLINSTONES 2, Mitch Albom's The 5 People you Meet in Heaven and True Vinyl.
In addition you can hear Daniel’s songwriting in the song "NO HAY IMPOSIBLES" in the just released famous latin artist CHAYANNE's CD, which was named after his song and on the film "Behind Enemy Lines 3: Colombia".
As a music producer, he worked on the multi award winning film "LA MISMA LUNA" (Under the Same Moon), The RAMEN GIRL (with Brittany Murphy) and America.
As an orchestrator Daniel worked on films such as ANASTASIA (for which he was nominated for best orchestration for the Fennecus Award) Big Momma House 3, The Waterboy (Adam Sandler), Brokedown Palace, Nutty Professor II, The 5 People you Meet in Heaven, Duets, The Miracle Worker, 14 Hours, Jingle All the Way among others.
He also arranged and orchestrated for recording artist such as Rickie Lee Jones, Chayanne, Michael Kleitman, Maria Sorte and Victor Mendoza. He graduated from Berklee College of Music with a dual degree in film scoring and jazz composition, where he was awarded the Quincy Jones award in composition. He was the leader of The Eclectic Band, an 18 piece jazz big band with whom he won the IAJE first price in composition.
He speaks English, Spanish, Hebrew and Italian.
The "Essence of the Spirit" originated as a short celebratory video for Padua Academy's Founder's Day celebration and snowballed into a feature length documentary because of the inspiring interviews I had with the subjects. I thought to myself: these inspiring words of wisdom caught on tape cannot just sit on a shelf somewhere.
Fr Roberto Balducelli, Sister Catherine Jane Mcerlean, and Fr John McFadden were three intensely spiritual people I've known most, if not all, of my life who have had a consistent positive impact on everyone they come into contact with... one of the most interesting things about each of them is that, while they are all in constant communication with God through prayer, they are all easy to converse with and very down to earth - just like any other ordinary person.
Given all the negative publicity the Church has been receiving over the last several years, I thought it was timely and relevant to show three Catholic humanitarians who follow the Spirit of the religion in its purest, non-corrupt form and seek to unify our communities rather than divide them. I wanted people to see that there are 'good' priests, brothers, and sisters still active in the Church.
Not only do these individuals positively impact their community in small day-to-day ways, but their works and examples have also helped people to find God in their lives - an increasingly difficult task in our information-overload culture.
I also found it fascinating that the way Fr Balducelli, Sr Katie, and Fr McFadden live and interact with others corresponds with other spiritualities established by individuals like Ghandi, the Dalai Llama, and Martin Luther King Jr., who are quoted in the film. Their philosophies are very in line with a universal human understanding of good works and peacemaking which involves alleviating the suffering of the poor and sick, cultivating the nuclear family, and opportunistically helping others whenever and wherever the occasion arises.
The simplicity of each of their existences taught me that when our priorities are in order, life is very simple indeed. I left each interview feeling overwhelmingly inspired and 'high on life.' I hope that I was able to capture that same emotion in the "The Essence of the Spirit" and that journeying with these three Spirit-following individuals for an hour during this film is as inspiring to you as it was to me.
